1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter cleaning apparatus and to a ductless dryer having the same, and more particularly to a filter cleaning apparatus and a ductless dryer having the same which can enhance a user's convenience by automatically or manually removing foreign substances (debris) such as lint or fluff that reduce drying performance by blocking a channel when caught by a filter.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a clothes dryer is a device that absorbs moisture from objects to be dried (load) by blowing hot air generated by a heater into a drum and thereby dries the load. Clothes dryers may be roughly categorized into an exhaust type clothes dryer and a condensation type clothes dryer, according to the method employed for handling the humid air occurring when absorbing the moisture and drying the load.
The exhaust clothes dryer employs a method for exhausting the humid air flowing from the drum to the outside of the dryer. However, it requires an exhaust duct for exhausting the moisture evaporated in the drum to the outside. In particular, when gas heating is employed, the exhaust duct needs to be installed being extended long enough to the outdoors, considering that carbon monoxide, etc. as a product of combustion are also exhausted.
Meanwhile, the condensation (ductless) type clothes dryer uses a recirculation method that removes moisture by condensing the moisture from the humid air flowing from the drum in a heat exchanger and then recirculates the moisture-removed dry air back into the drum. However, the drying air flow forms a closed loop, making it difficult to use gas as a heating source.
A ductless dryer overcomes the demerits of the exhaust type dryer and the condensation type dryer. That is, the ductless dryer can be maintained at a low cost by using gas as a heating source and does not require an additional exhaust duct to be extended to the outdoors.
Meanwhile, the above-mentioned ductless dryer includes a filter for removing foreign substances (debris) such as lint or fluff contained in the air coming out of the drum.
However, in a related art dryer employing such a filter, a user must remove the filter out of the dryer after a certain number of drying operations are performed, clean out the filter to remove the filtered foreign substances such as the lint or the like, and then re-install the cleaned-out filter.
Accordingly, the user experiences the inconvenience of having to clean out the filter whenever necessary. And, while the filter is being cleaned, foreign substances such as lint or dirt may escape therefrom, thereby causing indoor air contamination and adversely affecting the user's health.